Mo Ghile Mear (My Gallant Hero)
by writtenndust
Summary: She was still amazed that they'd made it, was still trying to wrap her head around one hundred and twenty five years of sleep and why she still felt tired.


Title of the story refers to the song Mo Ghile Mear, that tells the story of the Irish goddess Eire, spirit of the homeland of Ireland who laments the exile of Bonnie Prince Charlie, and the land's decline in his absence.

If you'd like to hear a lovely version of the song: www. youtube watch?v=zxjvNUNXhkU

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Abby watched, quietly, from her place against the wall. She was still amazed that they'd made it, was still trying to wrap her head around one hundred and twenty five years of sleep and why she still felt tired.

The constant fear of death, the constant threats against her life, the threats against Marcus' life, they were still fresh in her mind. She could still feel the tightness in her wrist from squeezing the trigger as hard as she was able, when she saw Vinson with his teeth ripping through Marcus' throat.

But he was there, in front of her. She watched the sinewy lines of his muscles pull and turn as he touched the chair, then the window frame, then pressed the tips of his fingers to where Vinson's teeth had ripped open his throat. The skin was clean, healed, practically unmarked but for a small scar where she'd stitched up the wound over one hundred years ago, or mere moments, depending on how you looked at it.

"It's a new planet, really?" His voice surprised her, they'd been silent so long, trying to process everything. She hadn't been able to leave his side since he awoke, still amazed that he'd drawn breath, let alone that he was healed, healthy, unscathed. Her heart was still pounding in her ears from when she and Octavia had carried him to the ship, bleeding and falling apart. She could still feel her heart in her throat, but there he was, smiling at her with the blue glow of a new planet behind him and the warmth of two suns on their cheeks.

She managed to pull her lips into a smile and pushed off from the wall. "That's what Clarke and Bellamy tell me." She breathed out a long, gush of breath as his arm wove around her shoulders and he pulled her into his chest. She buried her face in his shirt - it was new, it had the logo of the Eligius 4 on his breast, but the smell of him, that warm, comforting smell of Marcus and home, bled through it and she pressed her eyes closed to savour it.

"Maybe this is our chance to do better."

Abby let out a sigh and nuzzled her face into his chest further, listening to his heart beating as she turned, listening to the intake of breath to his lungs and the slight chuckle that left his lips. She stopped for a moment, frozen slightly, before she realised why he was laughing.

"I thought I'd lost you."

Marcus lips pressed to her brow and he pulled his other arm up and around her to enclose her in his embrace. "To be entirely honest, Abby, for a moment there, so did I."

Abby let a tear fall from her eye, the warm droplet trickling down her cheek and disappearing against the dark grey fabric of his shirt. It was strange, to be in clothes that had never been worn by another soul. Abby felt almost naked, without the weight and history of their lives, of the lives of their clothes and the people who'd worn them before.

It was a clean slate. A new start. Like Marcus said, a chance to be better.

They stood there for a time, looking out to the stars and the planet below - it was to be their new home. They needed to check the environment first, they needed to see what was down there, to know it was liveable before landing. They were being cautious and Abby couldn't fault this chance to do things the right way.

Marcus was so confused when he'd awoken, they thought it best to give him time to adjust. But he would need to be part of the decision making this time, he would need to be listened to, if they were going to be what he always wanted them to be. She believed in him. He seemed content, though for now, just to stand there and hold her.

She was in no rush to move.

Abby pressed her eyes closed again. She'd seen the new planet already - Clarke and Bellamy had woken her first, then Jackson, and one by one, they'd woken their people before finally, with a small crowd and a dead silence - not even a shuddered breath - she'd pressed the button to wake Marcus.

It took the end of the world and a psychopath to rip Marcus apart, for them all to stand together. Her heart felt tight.

She didn't need to look out at the blue anymore, she didn't need to listen to the hum of the ship. All that mattered to her was the rise and fall of his chest, the soft puffs of air that rustled the strands of loose hair at her temple and the gentle thud of his heart.

He was alive.

She was saved from looking out at a new world, without him.

A gentle sound broke through their peace, the strumming of a guitar with at least two broken strings, drifting through the corridor. Her eyes fluttered open and she tilted her head up to see his face and the look there, warmed her heart. His eyes were smiling as they turned toward the sound.

"Will you sing something for me, Marcus?"

His breath caught and his eyes turned to her quickly. She could see that longing pain in the depth of brown and the smile had slipped away, replaced with tears she knew he'd shed in earnest over a century ago.

"How did you…" He stammered. "It's been years since I…" He trailed off and Abby smiled, reaching up to weave her fingers through his hair at the nape of his neck.

"I might have heard you once." She smiled coyly. "I'd run off from my father at Mass. I didn't want to listen to a group of old people talk to a tree." They both chuckled and Abby smiled as Marcus pressed his lips to her temple again and held them there, as he listened. "I was fifteen. I was just going to head back to our quarters when I heard something, the sound of a guitar and a voice." Marcus arms pulled her tighter. "It was the most beautiful sound I'd ever heard. Smooth and gentle, like the stream near Arkadia." Marcus chuckled and Abby grinned, remembering.

"I remember following the sound to a door that was sitting ajar and I remember, the boy inside had dark hair and a big nose," She reached up and touched the tip of his nose and Marcus kissed her fingertip. "And he sounded like a dream."

"That was a long time ago. And my nose isn't that big." Marcus mock-pouted and Abby smiled up at him.

"You've grown into it." She smirked before she added gently. "Why did you stop?"

He released a deep breath. "My grand-father brought that guitar from the ground. When I was a child he'd sing songs to me about his home, about it's rolling green hills. He always had some tall tale or fable to enrapture me when I was a boy." He turned his eyes to the planet below and Abby waited, her breath held for the rest of his story. "When my father was floated, it was just hours before my grandfather's heart gave out and I never picked it up again."

"Marcus…"

"It's alright, Abby, it doesn't hurt so much to remember now. My mother was never the same and for so long, I couldn't even look at that guitar, it reminded me too much of them both"

"What happened to it?"

Marcus shrugged slightly. "It was destroyed when we brought the Ark to the ground."

Abby smiled sadly, running her palm down his chest and around his side - she hovered over his side that had been filled with holes. It felt like only moments ago his blood was seeping through his shirt and onto her hands, but now the skin was smooth and clean beneath his shirt - she wrapped her arms around him and hugged his middle.

"Will you sing me something now?"

"My mother's favourite was an Irish folk song."

Abby sighed contentedly, pressing her cheek to his chest again. "Sounds perfect."

She felt the rumble before she heard his gentle voice carry out in the quiet.

" _Sé mo laoch mo Ghile Mear 'Sé mo Shaesar, Ghile Mear, Suan ná séan ní bhfuaireas féin, Ó chuaigh i gcéin mo Ghile Mear."_

She pressed her cheek tighter against his chest, feeling the rumble of his voice as it vibrated through his chest, a beautiful, soft baritone that she could feel down to her bones.

" _Bímse buan ar buairt gach ló, Ag caoi go cruaidh 's ag tuar na ndeor, Mar scaoileadh uaim an buachaill beo, 'S ná ríomhtar tuairisc uaidh, mo bhrón."_

When he stopped singing, the ship was suddenly quiet but for the hum of the engines as Abby spoke. "What does it mean?" She pressed her lips to his chest, over his heart and she could hear the smile in his voice as he answered.

"It's about the lament of the goddess Eire for her bonnie prince, who was exiled. Her homeland suffers and declines in his absence as her heart breaks. My mother loved it because she said it's how she felt about the Earth."

"It's beautiful. You should sing more often."

"Maybe just for you."

His voice trailed off and Abby felt her heart release - the tightness was gone, replaced with a warm blanket of Marcus love and the hope he'd always professed would save them. They had a real chance now, here, in this place.

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The End.


End file.
